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Touch the Clouds is a bronze of the Lakota chief by sculptor Dave McGary, listed by Visit Edmond among the University of Central Oklahoma stops on Route 66 in Edmond. It stood at the Houston Astrodome before Edmond bought it.
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Chief Touch the Clouds
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Approximate location · 35.653° N, 97.478° W
FIELD GUIDE
The story
A bronze chief that once stood at the Houston Astrodome now looks onto Second Street, the Route 66 alignment through Edmond, at the edge of the University of Central Oklahoma campus. It is Touch the Clouds by sculptor Dave McGary, part of what Route 66 News called his Warrior Series. The plaque beside it describes Touch the Clouds (1838 to 1905) as a Lakota Sioux warrior, a cousin of Crazy Horse and a delegate to Washington, D.C., in 1877.
McGary's website says the project was announced in February 1996 and installed at the Astrodome in February 1998. The plaque says Edmond's city council bought it from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in November 2013 and moved it in May 2015; McGary's website gives 22 May 2016 for installation at UCO. Southwest Art reported in 2017 that residents petitioned the council, which allocated $50,000 in 2014, with private donors adding $30,000 to refurbish the statue. Route 66 News, quoting the Edmond Sun in 2015, gave a price of $90,000 including transport.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
A large bronze statue beside Second Street at the edge of the University of Central Oklahoma campus, listed among the UCO stops on Visit Edmond's Route 66 centennial page. A plaque beside it carries biographical text.
ACCESS
At the edge of the University of Central Oklahoma campus on Second Street (Route 66), Edmond. Visit Edmond's 2026 Route 66 centennial page lists it at 100 University Drive. Southwest Art in 2017 placed it west of the Garland Godfrey entrance.
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